Carlton AFLW coach Mathew Buck speaks on the stunning season opener win.

On overall performance: 

"It felt like a really mature performance to be honest, we've been chasing that now going into out third season. To go down early, but no one panicked and managed to regulate themselves and got back into the game with our contest and defence."

On Mimi Hill's outstanding performance: 

"Mimi had a great year last year a halfback as well and we've solidified that area and thrown Darcy back, that gives Mimi an opportunity to go through the midfield. Mimi's had a fantastic preseason and when we see great players in the competition, you'll find a great pre-season behind them. I'm really happy with Mimi and her performance tonight, I thought she'd started the game really strongly and had a big first half, executed well and got our team going."

On offensive and defensive strategies:

"We've always spoke contest and defence and they were always going to be the first thing and if you chase five rabbits, you catch none. We get those areas right and then we've started at our offensive low this time. We saw glimpses of it tonight, which will be great, but we'll need to see more of those going into the future for sure. There's some great stuff that we really enjoyed, we'll continue to chase that."

On Erone Fitzpatrick thriving after her return from injury:

"I can spend all night talking about Ronnie and the impact she has on our team. Last year she was inactive with a knee reconstruction and spent her time on the coach's bench, wanted to learn and understand the game more. While she was doing that, she changed her body shape, got fitter and stronger and has come back a brand new athlete and then we saw the impact of that tonight. A great leader in our footy club, number one and then to go out and execute the way she did, I was just really pleased for Ronnie."

On being a part of Round 1 of the 10th AFLW season:

"To have the opening game here at IKON Park, it was fantastic. I think we want this game moving forward, I think we had a great crowd in here. We played a great brand of footy, the crowd was up and about, that's for sure... The kicker of it being 10 seasons on and to still have some players that played in that game, Darcy Vescio and Breann Harrington play in that game and play so well as well, the throwbacks there and the story's great.

"Our players were pretty calm and we probably didn't lean into it too much. We've got nine players under 22, so making sure we weren't over aroused going into the game was really important. We'll spend some time now unpacking kind of what it meant in hindsight.

On handling game day nerves:

"It was always going to be a little bit scrappy early, first game. Long time off, all that kind of stuff...  From a coaching lens, you could clearly see that the players were still ok and the coms through the bench they knew where we got it wrong. Then to fight back from there, and I think we only let one more goal through after that point for the entire game probably speaks to the defensive effort from the group.

On debutants Sophie McKay and Poppy Scholz: 

"I've spoken about them a fair bit in the pre-season in terms of the professionalism that they came in with. Sophie had a shoulder reconstruction, so had to get after rehab, which is hard to do when you come in and try to be a new player in a club as well, I can't fault the way Soph's gone about her work.. Her intensity and effort to tidy up is just always there.

"Poppy burst onto the scene there with a spin through the middle and then managed to kick a goal. I'm just really excited for the player Poppy can can become. She's physically kind of grown over the over the six months that we've had her, and that's with respect to the work that the high performance team have put into her and the way she's applied herself, she'll continue to grow and get better every week, I'm sure of that." 

On facing Hawthorn in Round 2:

"Our young group nine under 22, you're going to see ebbs and flows in our performance, that's just natural of all teams that are young. So my challenge is to make sure that we don't see too much of that and to go to Frankston this weekend and then Brisbane after that, so two really challenging games, but at the same time what a great challenge to go and get after them. Excited with what we did tonight, take the good bits, improve the bits we kind of need to improve on and go from there."

On the crowd and excitement of the night:

"We could feel the excitement in the crowd, especially when the new players came near the ball, I think Sophie McKay bought her own fan club, which was fantastic. To see the Carlton faithful come down, and hopefully they walk away with a really great understanding that when they come and watch us, they're gonna see us be really brave with the ball and we're gonna play an exciting brand that they can get behind.

"The crowd was fantastic, to have the opening game to be able to bring that crowd in and put some exciting footy out there for them, hopefully they've left with a smile on their face."